Earth, Air, Fire, Water: Our Weekly Twitter / Instagram Roundup

On Twitter and Instagram this week, we were drawn to photos emphasizing the basic elements of existence. From China to France, Egypt to India, Amsterdam to DC, these photos use nature and its disruption to highlight the environment, politics and protest, disaster and memory.

By the way, you can follow us here on Instagram. If there is a lot of IG below, it’s because we’re experimenting and we’re excited to bring our “picture reading” approach to the platform.

What its come to: selling plastic bags of mountain #air. Collected in #Guangdong. via @Reuters @MSNBCPhoto pic.twitter.com/Lzbn8QP45B

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) March 29, 2016

So much for man as master of the universe. Suggestive snap as oceans warm and rise. (Re the caption, guess Airbnb survives either way.) #Repost @reuters ・・・ A diver takes pictures as people look at sharks from an underwater #bedroom installed in the Aquarium of Paris, France, March 14, 2016. Airbnb and the #Aquarium of #Paris offer contest winners a night underwater #sleeping with sharks and created a research platform for the “misunderstood” shark species. REUTERS/Charles Platiau #shark #paris #unusual #underwater #PhotooftheWeek #ReutersPhotos #france
A photo posted by @readingthepictures on Apr 1, 2016 at 12:16pm PDT

Story of this administration. Forward always, on edge of a fever dream. #Obama motorcade (@drewangerer #Instagram) pic.twitter.com/uWmAaSP4bJ

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) March 28, 2016

@andrewharnick @AP_Images @aipac pic.twitter.com/j3hNHTjVKz

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) March 27, 2016

The #Administration never applied this kind of flair for #theater to the bully pulpit. Such was #Obama’s distain for governing by PR. That wasn’t the case through for every other kind of background and photo op. We highly doubt the next Prez will offer us such “begging for caption contest” exquisiteness. With the cool #blue notes, the retro #atom, the #StarWars vibe of the out-or-focus #conference title and lights that, on mobile at least, looking like we’re in the stars, George Lucas would be proud. #Repost @petesouza ・・・ President Obama delivers remarks during the #Nuclear Security #Summit.

A photo posted by @readingthepictures on Apr 1, 2016 at 1:39pm PDT

Like a human rights #mandala. It not only reflects the government’s paranoia and #repression of the #arts, but its dimensions. …And a bow to @degnerd, a careful chronicler of such things. #Repost @nytimes ・・・ This intricate #mural took shape over the past few weeks, spreading across a harried quarter of #Cairo where Egypt’s garbage collectors live amid overflowing bundles of the city’s trash. An artist known as @elseed chose a forsaken corner of the city away from the gaze of officials who have shown little tolerance for artists. By the time @elseed finished the #painting 2 weeks ago, it stretched across more than 50 buildings, making it the largest public work of art in #Cairo anyone can recall. The photographer @degnerd captured the #scale of the mural, which is only fully visible from the edge of the district. “If one wants to see the light of the sun, he must wipe his eyes,” it says, quoting a 3rd-century Coptic Christian bishop.

A photo posted by @readingthepictures on Mar 29, 2016 at 1:06pm PDT

One of those photos you, indeed, receive through your body more than your mind. Like a spinal tap. (RIP.) #Repost @time ・・・ At least 23 people were killed when an overpass collapsed in #Kolkata, #India, on March 31. The #overpass spanned nearly the width of the #street and was designed to ease #traffic through the densely crowded Bara Bazaar neighborhood in the capital of the eastern state of West Bengal. Read more on TIME.com. Photograph Bikas Das—@ap.images

A photo posted by @readingthepictures on Apr 1, 2016 at 12:31pm PDT

Reminiscent of Paris victim photos by @danielochoadeolza, this #wirephoto also depicts #loss by photographing photos in the #rain. A #trend? The clarity of the #bubble over his right eye seems to lend poignancy. #Repost @guardian ・・・ #Raindrops cover a picture of #Dutch #football legend #JohanCruyff, who #died this week, outside his former house in #Amsterdam in the #Netherlands. Photo: Remko de Waal/ @AFP/@GettyImages. #photojournalism

A photo posted by @readingthepictures on Mar 26, 2016 at 3:55pm PDT